Everstar Asset Management LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Everstar Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 48.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 13,916 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,531 shares during the period. Everstar Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $612,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in Bank of America by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 3,940,121 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $173,168,000 after buying an additional 173,021 shares during the period. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America during the 4th quarter valued at about $60,679,000. Arizona State Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 2,028,439 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $89,150,000 after acquiring an additional 10,377 shares during the period. Keybank National Association OH increased its holdings in Bank of America by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 3,458,616 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $152,006,000 after acquiring an additional 38,258 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Bank of America by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 42,929,896 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,886,769,000 after acquiring an additional 297,858 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Price Performance

BAC stock opened at $41.24 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. Bank of America Co. has a 12 month low of $34.15 and a 12 month high of $48.08. The stock has a market cap of $313.50 billion, a PE ratio of 12.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $44.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.93.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.12 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 14.10%. Bank of America’s quarterly revenue was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.70 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is presently 32.30%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BAC. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Baird R W raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Bank of America from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $43.00 to $53.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.45.

About Bank of America

Bank of America Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides banking and financial products and services for individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses, institutional investors, large corporations, and governments worldwide. It operates in four segments: Consumer Banking, Global Wealth & Investment Management (GWIM), Global Banking, and Global Markets.